page_title: Tampa Police Department
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Tampa Police Department / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The Tampa Police Building in downtown.
context_page_description: The Tampa Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency for the city of Tampa, Florida. The Tampa Police Department has over 1000 authorized sworn law enforcement personnel positions and more than 350 civilian and support staff personnel positions. The current chief of police is Brian Dugan.
  Uniformed officers are deployed on a four days on, four days off work cycle, with an average of twelve officers per squad
context_section_description: In 1855 the first official law enforcement position created was City Marshal by an act to incorporate the City of Tampa. Over the next 18 years the City Marshall's duties and responsibilities were expanded to include summoning members of patrol by midnight along with examining and recording marks and brands on butchered cattle.
  In 1886, the first police force was created in Tampa by passage of another city ordinance and thus began the Tampa Police Department some fifty-one years after the first police force in America was created. Tampa's first police force was quite small, with a Chief of Police replacing the City Marshall, aided by an Assistant Chief, a Sergeant and three mounted officers. But some key elements of a modern police force were instituted during that time. Standards for officer qualification were established based on merit and physical fitness and officers began wearing uniforms. Two detective positions were also added during this period of time. The following year, on July 15, 1887, the town of Tampa officially incorporated as a city.
  Over the next 26 years the Tampa Police Department evolved through a number of reorganizations, adding and subtracting positions, establishing a pension plan for officers and developing rules and regulations dealing with officer's conduct. In 1913 the department created its first Identification Officer position. The officer assigned to the position used the Bertillion System of identification, which preceded the fingerprint method used today in law enforcement. The Bertillion System used a process of measuring body parts such as the nose, eyes and hands along with other characteristics to identify individuals.
  1915 was a landmark year as the department relocated to its new headquarters located at Florida Avenue and Jackson Street in Downtown Tampa. That same year Tampa saw the advent of a revolutionary tool in local law enforcement, the automobile. Tampa added an officer to the motored assignment who was both chauffeur and mechanic for the department. In 1936, with automotive thefts rising, the department added an Auto Theft Bureau to deal with this relatively new dilemma. Additional functions such as parking meter enforcement were added to the tasks performed by the department along with an expanded role in traffic law enforcement.
  During the years from 1936 to 1961, the department underwent additional redeployments and Tampa saw its first parking meters in the 1940s. 
  Major developments in the department's history occurred in 1961. First and foremost was a move to a new police building on Tampa Street at Henderson Avenue. This facility would serve as headquarters until the department moved to its current building in 1997. The first floor of the two-story complex housed police operations while the second floor housed the city's jail and administrative operations. A college training program was instituted that year with participating officers being given special consideration pertaining to work hours and finances. The "platoon" deployment system was adopted giving equal numbers of officers to each platoon, which was rotated between day, evening and midnight shifts. The Police Athletic League was officially organized and one officer was assigned to it full-time to provide special activities for Tampa's youth.
  In 1962 the Criminal Intelligence Unit was organized and became responsible for developing and disseminating available information to officers through special files and investigations.
  The Field Instructor system of training newly appointed police officers was established in 1965. Initially, the Field Instructors were the corporals of the squads. Later they were each squad's top performing and senior officers.
  1967 brought a new deployment of manpower with the abolition of the platoon system. A flexible deployment system with 21 squads replaced it. The system deployed officers to areas based on need.
  The Tampa Police academy received certification as a qualified training institute in 1968 by the State Minimum Standards Training Commission. At that time the academy was he
caption: The main headquarters for Tampa Police, at Franklin Street in downtown Tampa.
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